We all celebrated the 20th anniversary of the first episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer last week. What can you watch now that compares? I’m sure you can come up with some ideas of your own. I’d love to hear about them in the comments. I’ll mention three of my favorites. Continue reading “20 Years After Buffy, What’s to Watch?”

Wyonna Earp is off to a demon hunting start on SyFy. First let’s talk about some of the familiar, known and loved characteristics of this series. You get a kickass but reluctant heroine Wynonna (Melanie Scrofano) who resembles all your favorite such heroines. Think Buffy, Bo Dennis and Jessica Jones. You gotta love Wynonna already. Continue reading “Wynonna Earp: Thoughts on the First Episode”

Wynonna Earp is the latest sci fi/fantasy epic to emerge under the guidance of Emily Andras. It will appear on SyFy next spring with Andras as showrunner. Andras was executive producer and writer for such favorite series as Lost Girl and Killjoys.

Since the women created for those past series met every specification for kickass, I’m looking forward to the potential of this female-led series.

The show stars Melanie Scrofano as the demon-fighting Wynonna Earp. To complete the historical references to her famous surname (she’s Wyatt Earp’s great granddaughter), there’s a Doc Holliday in the cast, played by Tim Rozon.

Tim Rozon was an annoyance in Lost Girl. Here’s hoping Emily Andras has found a better use for him in this series. That much gorgeousness shouldn’t go to waste.

Shamier Anderson plays Agent Dolls. That’s all that is known at this point about the cast and characters.

Earp joins a secret division of the U.S. Marshals created to combat killer supernatural creatures known as The Monster Squad. Scrofano’s Marshall will be a motorcycle-riding modern-day gunfighter in the Earp/Holliday tradition.

Wynonna Earp is based on an IDW Publishing comic of the same name by Beau Smith. Series based on comic books may be a bit on the silly side, but they do give us heroines we can admire like Agent Carter, Liv Moore, Supergirl, and now, Wynonna Earp.

A ghostly presence interrupts the physical exam and vodka shots by writing HELP on a glass door. Is it Bo?

Dyson (Kris Holden-Ried) holds open the gates of Valhalla so Bo can get out. Along comes a Valkyrie named Stacy (Kate Corbett) who is after a soul to replace the Russian human. Dyson decides to be so charming and sexy that Stacy forgets what she’s doing.

Off the elevator to hell, Bo wanders around in the dark looking for Dad. In a dress that would make Angelina Jolie jealous.

Something takes a bite out of Bo’s leg and says, “You just got bitch snacked.”

Let’s think: that bitch biter Puca (Alex Appel) on one side, this 6000 year old lovely (Hannah Anderson) on the other. Which path will Bo choose? Why, yes, the pretty young thing shows Bo around the maze of hell.

Bo quickly convinces Miss Congeniality of Hell to help her heal.

Lauren (Zoie Palmer) takes a nap and has ghost sex with a spirit bearing all the earmarks of Bo. Everything Bo does in one place happens to Lauren in the other. Is Bo so sexually powerful she can have sex in two realms of existence at the same time?

“I am Persephone. Daughter of Demeter. Wife of Hades, King of the Underworld. And I am your step mother.” What? She couldn’t mention this BEFORE the sex? Oh, by the way, the Artemis flame is the way out.

Bo finds pop. Bo was born in hell. Just like in the dawning. Hades began to lose his power after Bo’s removal from Hell.

Aife left drawings that show how much she loved Bo.

Hey, Dad, you’re darkness and I’m not walking into it. There are people who truly love me back home. I don’t need to know you to know myself. I’m taking everything you have. You don’t like it, come and get me.

Come and get me, did you say? Nice try, Pops, but Bo can fight you off easily because her mother taught her how to fight.

Upsets a girl when dear old dad turns out to be the strangler and the Lord of the Underworld.

Ouija boards and incantations will bring Bo back. Don’t they look just like Willow and Tara here?

Bo leaves hell with a promise to light the candle. Sometimes all it takes to keep the evil at bay is to let the light in.

She’s out. She’s back. Here’s Bo!

The ouija board sent a demon instead of Bo. The solution: burn the board up while screaming “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.”

Stacy shows up wanting the uppity doctor’s soul to replace Kenzi’s. Tamsin (Rachel Skarsten) arrives and defeats Stacy in a Valkyrie showdown because she’s good Tammy now. Stacy left the labrys necklace behind when Tamsin scared her off.

Everyone is home and alive. Time for a family dinner at the Dal. Tamsin forgives Dyson for sucking face with Stacy. Bo tells Trick (Rick Howland) that the afterlife is “personal.”

Dyson gives Kenzi something Hale left her in his will. Seems Kenzi now owns property on the coast of Spain.

Lauren and Bo go to the keg room where they should be KISSING, but no . . . they discuss Kenzi. But at least Bo has her necklace back. And wait – there’s still a demon around!

That damn Edimmu is here, wanting a bite outta Bo. Kenzi shoots it with a big gun. They never use guns on this show, but Kenzi has a gun. Probably because Edimmu was wearing Bo’s kimono.

Back at the clubhouse, Kensi drops the news. She says, “I can’t keep being a lost human in a Fae world. I need to try something new. Something human. I need to go.”

While Bo lights the candle an unidentified woman (Amanda Walsh) talks annoyingly on her phone in an elevator. When the candle is lit, she’s holding it. Suddenly there’s screaming and darkness. Question, what’s with all the people whose faces we cannot see in this elevator?

Some Thoughts

This episode was written by Emily Andras. Very happy to see her writing an episode, especially this very important one that explains why Kenzi won’t be around for every episode this season.

Look at this face. This is not a street urchin. This is a woman – a grown-up, powerful woman.

I came to a fork in the road and I had to make a decision for myself. I started “Lost Girl” when I was 21, and it’s been a six-year commitment. It’s a long time in a person’s life, especially at that age. I really wanted to expand myself creatively, and in order to do that and continue to grow as an actor, I needed to have the chance to play other roles and do other projects. But you need time for that, and I didn’t have it.

I love Kenzi. We all love Kenzi. But she’s not that skinny kid she was. Ksenia Solo has grown up right before our eyes. She’s demonstrated her acting abilities. She’s matured in both mind and spirit. So, if Ksenia Solo has a chance to move on, to grow, then bless her and good luck. She deserves it.

Ksenia’s going to take good care of the Lost Girl fans before the season ends. She won’t be gone in every future episode. And because of the social phenomenon known as a “con,” I’m sure Ksenia Solo will be in front of Lost Girl fans many times in the future.

“Dark Horse,” the season 4 finale of Lost Girl takes us some places we’ve been longing to go, kicks us in the gut with a development we REALLY don’t want, and sets up the momentum for season 5.

The finale was written by Emily Andras. I’m glad she took the reins for the finale because there is a lot going on and a lot stitch together. She dropped a few stitches, but many things do get resolved.

We begin with Bo (Anna Silk) and Rainer (Kyle Schmid) arguing about Rosette’s betrayal, who Bo’s father is and how he manipulated them, and the mistakes and errors they made. Rainer and Bo vow to work together against evil.

It’s his mark

Bo clutches her chest and calls the mark there “his mark,” meaning her father. She’s gasping in pain.

Let’s play the blame game

Rainer takes Bo to the Dal. Rainer and Trick (Rick Howland) argue about who to blame for their troubles as Trick discovers that Bo knows about the Pyrippus and that it might be her father.

Bo says she can feel her father close, trying to bring “her” out because he needs her. Rainer wants to know who she means, and Bo says, “Me.” She asks Trick to tell her everything he knows about her blood.

Massimo is cray-cray

Massimo (Tim Rozon) has Lauren (Zoie Palmer) in his clutches. She’s strapped to a fence and he’s digging while spouting his crazy into the night. Lauren mentions that the power of the twig of Zamorra is diminishing now that he killed the last Zamorran heir. She taunts him for crying about his mommy and going prematurely grey. He thinks his mommy is finally going to be proud of him, especially when he takes her the head of the succubus on a platter.

Spill it, Trick

Trick shares what little he knows about Bo’s father with Bo and Rainer. Trick talked about handing over Aife to the Dark to prove his blood laws were infallible. The blood of Bo’s father allows her to draw life from many victims and to transfer that life force to someone other than herself. She can raise the dead, as Rainer points out, but she can also enslave, as Trick points out. Bo tells them both that nobody is going to use her for anything. Bo wants to go to the Portal where Pyrippus is set to emerge from hel, when Massimo appears with a few nasty remarks about Lauren.

Kenzi (Ksenia Solo) is busy reading up on prophecies and mythology atop Evony’s bed. Dyson (Kris Holden-Ried) bursts in asking her what’s going on. Kenzi says, “Her blood is everywhere. She was looking for something in the dark archives. Check this out.”

Check this out

Kenzi holds up a painting. Dyson says, “Bo.” He asks where Lauren is, but Kenzi doesn’t know. Evony (Emmanuelle Vaugier) comes in. She grosses Kenzi out by talking about goosing Lauren’s sweet berries right where Kenzi is sitting. Evony complains about the temperature. First she’s too hot, then she’s too cold. Dyson takes a big sniff and realizes Evony is human.

Is that a human I smell?

Kenzi gives Evony a right hook to the jaw, just ’cause she can now that Evony is human. Dyson wants to know how it is that Evony is human. Evony says it was the good doctor and her miracle snatch.

I need Dr. Miracle Snatch

Evony hasn’t incinerated Lauren yet because she needs her to fix her bad case of humanitis. She tells them Massimo is her son and where Massimo has taken Lauren.

At the Dal, Bo tells Massimo to get lost, she has real bad guys to deal with. He has power from eating the origin seed that make him able to steal powers from others and use them as his own. He tries downing Bo with a burst of energy from a thunder beast. He’s strong, he throws Bo around the room, smashes a chair across her back, picks her up and drops her on a table. Trick realizes Massimo stole the seed. Rainer attacks Massimo but he’s easily brought to his knees.

Tell the Valkyrie my soul is hers again

Rainer says, “Tell the Valkyrie my soul is hers again,” and Massimo snaps his neck. Rainer is dead. I’m glad it was Massimo who eliminated Rainer from the story – it would have been terrible if one of Bo’s friends/lovers/family did the deed.

No!

Bo is too hurt to fight back. Massimo runs. When Bo next wakes up, she’s in the clubhouse with Tamsin (Rachel Skarsten) waiting on her to recover.

Bo is depressed, aching with broken bones. She couldn’t save anyone and Lauren is in Massimo’s hands. Tamsin tells her to suck it up and be a leader.

Heal me

Bo grabs Tamsin and sucks it up. She says, “You taste different. Happy.” Tamsin doesn’t explain, but she and Dyson exchange an awful lot of meaningful glances in this episode – maybe that’s why. Or maybe it’s because she now has Rainer’s soul to take to Valhalla.

Dyson and Kenzi run in. Bo hugs Dyson. She looks at Kenzi, who stands near the door, says, “Hi.” Kenzi returns a quiet, “Hi,” but doesn’t approach.

Kenzi and Tamsin sit on the couch and talk. Tamsin wants Kenzi to forgive Bo. Kenzi says, “My boyfriend just died. Remember?” Tamsin says, “Rainer is also dead, which means I have a soul and a second chance to deliver it.”

Kenzi looks at a book, which she asks Tamsin to translate.

It’s in Norwegian

Tamsin translates “Daughter. Heart.” As in, “The daughter’s heart will close the portal?” asks Kenzi. Kenzi doesn’t want to tell Bo what they read. She wants to get Lauren first. Tamsin heads off and Kenzi tears the page from the book and keeps it.

Bo is giving Dyson his battle orders. Lauren comes first. She also asks him to witness her tearing up the contract that makes her dark so she can get back to being who she is.

I don’t belong to anyone

Dyson asks if she’s all right. She says, “Rainer was my partner. Someone who wanted to end the tyranny between light and dark. He was a good man.”

I should have been searching for a Queen

Dyson says he searched for a King, but he should have searched for a Queen. He kneels before her and swears fealty, his life, his blood, his soul, his body. Bo tears up, hugs him. He says, “I love you.” She says, “That is why I need you to serve with me, not for me.”

Tamsin tells them they found out more about the portal. Bo and Dyson go to the rocking horse ranch at the spiritual center. No people are around, just broken horses and the glowing pyramid of light. Three revenants come out of the pyramid.

I am the Queen

Bo sucks their chi and turns, blue eyed and evil looking, to Dyson. She talks in her all-powerful voice and says, “I am the Queen and my true army cometh.”

All you need is love

Dyson figures he wants the other Bo back and gets her back with a kiss. The healing kiss works once again. (What would happen to the world if somebody gave a big kiss to anyone who was behaving badly? Even rebellious teenagers? Let’s save the world with kissing!)

Evony and Trick are still trying to figure out how The Morrigan and the Acting Ash can pull off anything useful. Evony is humanly drunk and makes a pass at Trick. He’s not interested.

Are we just going to wait for chaos?

Evony tells him to think, quotes some French. Trick translates it as “Sometimes the smallest thing casts the longest shadow.” Trick grabs his trusty bowstaff and off they go. He probably thinks he is the smallest thing, but he’ll soon see it’s someone else.

Bo wants to process the kiss with Dyson. She says she feels awesome and powerful, but her father is near. Dyson thinks she’s channeling her father’s energy though the portal. He wants to know if she can control it. She wants to go get Lauren. She asks Dyson to stop any more dead warriors who come out of the portal with Tamsin’s help. She asks him to keep Kenzi safe.

Bo feels forgiven, but Kenzi has other things on her Shadow Thief mind. She gives Bo a sword and says, “You’re gonna be fine.” Kenzi is dead serious. Her eyes look like she’s been crying for a solid week. Bo looks worried as Kenzi and Tamsin leave.

Lauren struggles with chains holding her to a post. Massimo brags about burning alive for 7 days and killing Rainer.

You have Rainer’s foresight.

Massimo’s in pain. Lauren wants him to choke on it. Bo comes in waving her sword epi-pen to fight off his allergy to origin seeds. Lauren tells Bo, “You shouldn’t have come.”

“I always do,” says Bo.

“Thank Goddess,” says Lauren. (A lot of fans say that any time Anna Silk walks into a room. Lauren is expressing a universal hymn of praise with that line.)

Massimo talks about the Una Mens power to deflect the power of any Fae. As proof, he unleashes a siren whistle on Lauren and Bo from his killing of Hale.

Destiny. Booyah.

Kenzi rereads the book page about the daughter’s heart. She says, “Destiny. Booyah.” It isn’t a celebratory cheer.

Massimo throws Bo to the floor near when Lauren is chained up. He says he will kill Bo as soon as she watches him kill Lauren. Lauren tells Bo that’s she’s almost out of her cuffs, thanks to all she learned during Kenzi’s shadow thief training. It wasn’t all just panty removal.

Let’s kill this mother lover.

Bo does a giant chi suck on Massimo, but he manages to break it off. In walks Massimo’s mommie dearest. Bo promptly puts a big knife to her neck.

Evony objects. “This is not what Trick and I discussed.” Massimo throws a tantrum.

Dyson and Tamsin battle the revenants pouring out of the pyramid. Dyson’s impressed with Tamsin’s fighting skills and she smiles and the praise. Trick joins them.

Bo tricks Massimo into sucking a huge load of chi out of Evony.

She thinks you’re a coward

He can’t stop draining Evony. Bo explains that she could breathe power back into her, a power that Massimo doesn’t have. He finally manages to stop draining mommie dearest. Evony collapses. Massimo begs Bo to save her. She takes Massimo’s chi and gives it to Evony.

The tiny twig

Meanwhile, Lauren frees herself and takes the Twig of Zamorra out of Massimo’s pocket. She crushes it into dust.

Bo gives Massimo twacks and kicks for Lauren, Rainer, and Hale. Then she runs her sword through him and says, “And that is for breaking Kenzi’s heart.” Without the twig, he finally dies. So long, Tim Rozon. You were one of my favorite villains.

It’s okay. I got you.

Bo staggers and sways. Lauren grabs her. Bo clings to her like a life line.

There’s another use of slow-motion (the first was Lauren walking across a field of grass toward Bo) as Kenzi strides through the battle in front of the pyramid. It’s beautifully done. Kenzi’s headed for the pyramid entrance. Dyson stops her.

The long walk

She tells Dyson she can’t wait any longer. They are outnumbered and he’s injured. She’s calm, centered, certain. “We have to close the portal,” Kenzi says. She says, “I get it now. I do have a part to play.”

Dyson asks what she’s talking about and Trick says, “Destiny.”

Kenzi says, “It’s the only way to close the gateway to hel. Bo’s heart. And I’m it.”

Bo tells Lauren she was wrong about Rainer. Lauren nods her head. She says, “At least I was right about you.”

Bo says they have to go, but Lauren is going to stay with Evony. Lauren will doctor to Evony, since she was the one who made her so vulnerable and helpless in the first place. I’m really happy about this, because there was so much discussion about Lauren’s ethics and moral values over turning Evony human. Lauren redeems herself with this gesture.

Lauren says, “Get out of here, succubus. Destiny’s calling.”

Can’t leave just yet

Bo starts to leave but comes back for a kiss and some deep and meaningful eye contact. It seems like a promise, but maybe I just want it to be one.

Kenzi says Rainer knew this had to happen. Now that Tamsin has his soul, the golden ticket to Valhalla, that’s where Tamsin will take her. That’s where she’ll wait. Kenzi wants to go out a warrior, in battle. And she’s thinking she may get to see Hale again if she does. She promises to wait for Bo in Valhalla.

There’s a burst of noise and energy. Bo clutches her chest and feels something in her pocket. It’s Kenzi’s – Kenzi slipped it there when she hugged her.

Kenzi smiles slightly, turns and walks through the battle in slo mo, into the mouth of the pyramid. Bo comes in and runs to stop her, just as Kenzi turns back for a last look. Dyson restrains Bo.

The warrior’s sacrifice

Kenzi steps into the pyramid. There’s a huge flash of light. Kenzi falls. The battle stops. The revenants drop to the floor. Tamsin runs to be beside the fallen Kenzi.

Dyson whispers, “Valhalla,” to Bo as Tamsin spreads her wings.

No

Bo watches Tamsin preparing to take Kenzi. The only sound we hear is Bo sobbing.

Next stop, Valhalla

Tamsin bends and surrounds Kenzi with her wings. They vanish into the light.

Dyson finds Tamsin on the ground outside the gates to Valhalla. He helps her up.

Dyson brings Tamsin back

Tamsin’s weak, crying. She says, “She’s gone.” Does this mean she’s not in Valhalla? Dyson says, “We’ll get her back.”

Tamsin says, “You can’t with the second hell shoe.” He has to carry her away.

The song “You” plays in the background for the rest of the episode. A perfect choice.

Bo drives to a cemetery. In a voice over she tells where Rainer is buried. Still in voice over, Bo talks about loss, about needing to be strong. She puts flowers in front of Kenzi’s grave. I don’t see why there’s a grave for Kenzi when the whole idea is to get her back from Valhalla.

Now more than ever

“I miss you. I need your courage.” She has Kenzi’s ruby ring on a chain, which she wraps around her hand.

I am done crying

She stands in front of the grave and makes the speech which sets us up for season 5. Maybe this is why there’s a grave – to give Bo someplace to make these vows.

“I am done crying. I am done being scared. No one else will die on my watch. Whatever it takes, I will get you back. They want me to be afraid? It is them who should be afraid of me.”

Personal Thoughts

I approve of this season finale in many ways. The one contingency is that Bo better get Kenzi back very early in season 5!

I like that Rainer and Massimo are gone. I like that Rainer turned out to be a good guy and Bo’s judgement wasn’t wrong. I like that the evil was stopped by Kenzi. I liked that Bo and Lauren seem back together. I like that Dyson and Tamsin are developing a different connection or deeper relationship. I like that Lauren stayed to help with Evony because she was responsible for making her weak. I like that Bo is no longer acting like she’s in a fog, but is clear and determined and sure of her power to be what she wants. I like that the hell shoes came back to be a factor in season 5.

Even though we finally got to some satisfaction in terms of a number of ongoing plot lines from season 4, I still wish season 4 hadn’t been so full of unending arcs and misdirection. But even more, I wish the characters, particularly Bo, weren’t so confused through most of the season.

A few threads stayed unraveled. We still don’t really know anything about Bo’s father. We don’t know what the blue butterfly was about. We don’t know how Lauren (and presumably Crystal) got out of that holding cell. We don’t know who snatched Lauren in Crystal’s car. We don’t know what the oozing black goo in the first episode was all about.

It’s interesting that Trick and Evony as Acting Ash and Morrigan did almost nothing to help save the Fae. A human saved them. Kenzi is the key. Every moment since Bo and Kenzi met in episode 1 of the first season has been leading up to this.

I know this is an ensemble cast and every player is wonderful in it, but Ksenia Solo set the TV ablaze with talent through all of season 4. Can we have her back in episode 1 of season 5, please?

I hope Showcase puts us out of our misery soon by announcing season 5! [Note: Since I wrote this, season 5 was confirmed.]

Maybe it’s because of budget issues, as mehlsbells suggests, but Lost Girl is generally dark. I don’t mean only in story line, I mean in terms of actual light. Things are hidden away in shadows most of the time. Screen shots that I use from Lost Girl in my recaps have to be run though Photoshop and brightened considerably or they would look like nothing more than a dark blur on a web page.

That means that K.C. Collins is often so badly lit that you can’t even see him.

He’s in the cast, he’s an important character, he deserves to be seen. Let us see him! Light him with a spotlight or something so that he pops out of the shadows. There has to be a way.

I know filming for season 4 is finished, but I’m hoping there will be a season 5. And, in season 5, I’m hoping that K.C. Collins will be visible when he’s in a shot.

Orange is the New Black screen shot

Look at the contrasting dark and light skinned faces in this shot from Orange is the New Black. Granted OITNB isn’t using darkness and shadow like Lost Girl. OITNB is in a brightly lit prison. However, every face is equally visible, no matter the skin tone.

That’s all I want. I want K.C. Collins to be equally visible in scenes he’s in.

Come on Showcase, come on Emily Andras, come on Jay Firestone – do something about the lighting on K.C. Collins.